1. All caches placed in Blaine Parks must be registered, unregistered caches will be removed.
2. Caches must not be buried and be accessible from a standing position.
3. Caches must not contain items that are offensive, dangerous, or illegal.
4. Blaine Park and Recreation retains the right to remove, or have removed, a cache it feels is in an inappropriate location or is causing undue impact on the natural habitat.
5. Caches must be at least 1/2 mile apart, and 1/10 of a mile from an existing trail.
6. Caches need to be public, no member only or subscription caches.
7. Individuals will be limited to (2) caches per park and/or a total of (5) caches throughout the park system.
8. Caches are not allowed in picnic areas, play areas, and the beach.
9. Geocaching may only occur during normal park hours 5:00am - 10:00pm.

This policy...well...is about as bad as it gets. I would hope that the board will be able to make some significant progress towards something better for all._________________Hmm...

I suppose that is a way to say no tree climbing without saying 'no tree climbing'. Us parks boards people (not from Blaine) like to pretend we can talk all pretty like lawyers

I actually thought just the opposite; they don't want people crawling under bridges and other structures._________________"Hi, I'm Moe, or as the women know me - Hey! You in the bushes."
-Moe, The Simpsons

This is where I believe the McGCA (as in all members) receives and maintains it's validation, much moreso than other functions such as, recruiting new members, the social aspect which we all enjoy, etc. The membership needs to be aware of what is going on in the local level, watching the policies which are coming up for review within a locality, and lobbying board members and commissioners (if not sitting on decisionmaking boards) to educate them to make the best local policies.

I am a firm believer that the geocaching.com guidelines and review procedures are very adequate and, if followed, public policymakers could and would in most cases accept them as adequate. The policymakers need to be educated prior to coming down with poor policies, however.

Another way the McGCA membership can help greatly is by self policing when the guidelines are not followed. If poor policy does not come from lack of education, I think it comes from poor cache experience, which I bet can mostly be traced to not following the guidelines to start with. It's okay to inform cachers that their actions in some way could give the game a black eye in the community.

This is where I believe the McGCA (as in all members) receives and maintains it's validation, much moreso than other functions such as, recruiting new members, the social aspect which we all enjoy, etc. The membership needs to be aware of what is going on in the local level, watching the policies which are coming up for review within a locality, and lobbying board members and commissioners (if not sitting on decisionmaking boards) to educate them to make the best local policies.

+1

Quote:

I am a firm believer that the geocaching.com guidelines and review procedures are very adequate and, if followed, public policymakers could and would in most cases accept them as adequate. The policymakers need to be educated prior to coming down with poor policies, however.

+1

Quote:

Another way the McGCA membership can help greatly is by self policing when the guidelines are not followed. If poor policy does not come from lack of education, I think it comes from poor cache experience, which I bet can mostly be traced to not following the guidelines to start with. It's okay to inform cachers that their actions in some way could give the game a black eye in the community.

1. All caches placed in Blaine Parks must be registered, unregistered caches will be removed.
2. Caches must not be buried and be accessible from a standing position.
3. Caches must not contain items that are offensive, dangerous, or illegal.
4. Blaine Park and Recreation retains the right to remove, or have removed, a cache it feels is in an inappropriate location or is causing undue impact on the natural habitat.
5. Caches must be at least 1/2 mile apart, and 1/10 of a mile from an existing trail.
6. Caches need to be public, no member only or subscription caches.
7. Individuals will be limited to (2) caches per park and/or a total of (5) caches throughout the park system.
8. Caches are not allowed in picnic areas, play areas, and the beach.
9. Geocaching may only occur during normal park hours 5:00am - 10:00pm.

This policy...well...is about as bad as it gets. I would hope that the board will be able to make some significant progress towards something better for all.

Looks like a great policy. Although what is the meaning of "and 1/10 of a mile from an existing trail."?

1. All caches placed in Blaine Parks must be registered, unregistered caches will be removed.
2. Caches must not be buried and be accessible from a standing position.
3. Caches must not contain items that are offensive, dangerous, or illegal.
4. Blaine Park and Recreation retains the right to remove, or have removed, a cache it feels is in an inappropriate location or is causing undue impact on the natural habitat.
5. Caches must be at least 1/2 mile apart, and 1/10 of a mile from an existing trail.
6. Caches need to be public, no member only or subscription caches.
7. Individuals will be limited to (2) caches per park and/or a total of (5) caches throughout the park system.
8. Caches are not allowed in picnic areas, play areas, and the beach.
9. Geocaching may only occur during normal park hours 5:00am - 10:00pm.

This policy...well...is about as bad as it gets. I would hope that the board will be able to make some significant progress towards something better for all.

Looks like a great policy. Although what is the meaning of "and 1/10 of a mile from an
existing trail."?